


If I could

by Ionaholly



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-14 18:05:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9197369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ionaholly/pseuds/Ionaholly
Summary: Each time Draco goes back he falls a little more in love with Harry. Every interaction that he changes gives him an imperfect bond with the man. How far does he have to go to get his perfect ending? Set in-between HBP and DH and all over.





	1. Chapter 1

Draco sat slumped on a hospital wing bed, morosely staring out of the window at the swirling mist covering the dark school grounds. He had been stuck here for a total of three days and he was ready to chuck his curse healing ointment at Pomfrey’s knowledgeable head. 

He knew that the wounds Potter had given him were serious, the empty blood vials were proof of that, but never the less he still pouted every time he was barred from leaving. 

He sighed and prodded the now light pink scars littering his chest and stomach, wincing as the tender flesh broke and putrid green ointment leaked out. He really was far from being himself again. 

It wasn’t that he was angry with Potter for doing this to him; quite honestly, he deserved it for what he knew he had to do in the next few months. No, the anger that swelled within him was because the stupid git knew he wasn’t as cocky about his future as he made out. 

Draco knew that he had worked it out, that Draco had that ugly mark on his arm and was little more than the Dark Lord’s gimp. The face Potter made when he saw his tear stained face flashed into his head. He poked his scar with purpose to take his mind off it. 

Pity.

Pity is what he saw first on Potter’s face, which hurt a hell of a lot more than the revulsion that replaced it. He was almost thankful that the fool decided to make the blood inside his body leave at an alarming rate instead of consoling him. Almost.

Draco couldn’t remember the last time anyone actually consoled him about anything. Yet, Harry Potter, the one person he could always count on to ridicule him actually pitied him for a second. 

Draco’s watch beeped quietly on the bedside table next to his abandoned textbook, it had just gone 3am. Sleep continued to stubbornly evade him ever since the summer; his usual clear porcelain skin had a sallow quality to it with deep dark eye bags encasing his silver eyes. 

The door to the medical wing creaked slowly open and shut again; something invisible paused just inside the room. Draco rolled his eyes, ever since he was admitted he had a night-time visitor sneak in a sit on the bed next to him. It was obviously Potter, checking if he had accidentally killed his rival yet. 

Draco was half temped to hold his breath and cover himself in dragon blood from his potions supplies one evening just to scare the idiot away. He didn’t know how he thought he was being sly, he must know that half the school knows about his invisibility cloak by now, especially Draco. For two nights in a row he had come here to stare sullenly at his “sleeping” form while Draco was seething quietly. However, this evening he did not feel like pretending to be asleep, he wanted to see if Potter would be thick enough to think he could creep over to him unnoticed. 

Judging by the still footsteps at the door his tiny mind was furiously working though this problem. After a good ten minuets of standing still while Draco stared stubbornly at the ceiling soft footsteps slinked towards the neighbouring bed. 

Dear lord, Draco though, is he really that stupid to think I wouldn’t notice? The bed sank around the boy’s weight and a part of the cloak slipped off his old trainer.

Draco scoffed “Potter, if you’re really that adamant on visiting me at least wear something nice. I could do with something pretty to look at while I’m stuck here”

A strangled sound came from beside him and Potter’s face slid into view, looking at him like Draco had slapped him across the face.

“How did you know I was here? 

“Was that curse supposed to make me stupid as well as kill me? You have the elegance of a mule, I would’ve noticed you come into the room even if I was sleeping in Pomfrey’s bed”

“Oh... should I go or...?” 

“If you want” Draco reclined back and hid a grimace as the freshly poked scar stretched uncomfortably “Either way I’m sure my mind wont be hugely challenged with or without you” he smirked as he saw Potter bristle 

“I didn’t come here to get insulted, Malfoy” 

“Well, unlike you I didn’t have much of a choice in coming here” he said, satisfied by Potter’s abashed expression “Why are you here anyway?”

“I just thought, after everything this year I mean, you wouldn’t want to be alone right now” he mumbled

“And what a fantastic companion you make under that cloak. I mean, who wouldn’t want to feel something staring at you all night?” 

“Fucking hell, Malfoy” Potter ran his hand roughly through his hair “You don’t have to be such a prick about it. I’ll go if my company is that awful”

“That would be the nicest thing you’ve done for me in the last six years” Draco smiled sweetly and picked his text book up again when it was abruptly ripped from his hands

“I know you’re not okay Malfoy and if you stop being such a stubborn asshole we could help you”

“The golden trio, help me?” Draco put a hand to his heart in mock shock “I’m sorry to break it to you but the last time you tried to help me I ended up with a considerable amount of my body ripped open”

Potter stood there, visibly shaking in anger, and would no doubt love nothing more to punch that smug look off of Draco. He took a step forward, Draco knew he should feel afraid of the magic crackling off him but something in him almost wished he’d just finish him off. 

Harry grabbed him roughly by the collar of his pyjamas and Draco closed his eyes, prepared for the incoming pain but instead felt a pair of chapped lips crush against his. 

Potter pressed him into the bed and he felt a flicker of fear, the considerable weight of Potter’s lean figure made it very hard to push him off. He was getting heavier and heavier, Draco’s chest heaved as he tried to pull in a breath...

Fuck.

Draco shot up, sweat pouring off of his body and sticking his already tangled hair to his face. In all of the “Potter murdering him” dreams he’s had that’s the first time it included the added risk of Potter’s tongue. Not that it was wholly unpleasant to think about some sort of touch other than sharp strikes across the face. 

While staying in Malfoy Manor after fleeing Hogwarts with Snape last month Draco was having reoccurring dreams, often based after he was attacked by Potter, where he is gruesomely murdered. The parts where Potter had visited him in “secret” were true, annoyingly true, but he never bothered to have him reveal himself. It wasn’t worth the hassle of having to talk while he was still seething over being maimed and humiliated. 

Most of these dreams either ended with Potter finishing the job in some sort of way he was probably most incapable of. He couldn’t even kill his mentor’s murderer for god sake let alone his school rival. 

Draco realised, much like in his dream, he wasn’t alone in the room. A small round hunched figure was lurking in the shadows, the source of the awful weight on his chest made sense. 

“Roach, would you stop trying to smother me in my sleep?” Draco sighed,

“Master is awake?” A fat house elf shuffled into the moonlight. 

Draco found himself longing for the days where his family still had Dobby when interacting with this creature. Even while hosting the Dark Lord Malfoy Manor needed cleaning. 

For such a job they needed a house elf of a certain mental aptitude, one that wouldn’t ask any questions. 

Thus, Roach was found, an old pure blood family in Russia had him as a nanny for their children, which meant he was very childlike and spoke very little English. Perfect for a cleaner in the Death Eater’s headquarters.

“Obviously, Roach” Draco pushed his aching body out of his bed. He felt a growing bruise on his side from the beating last night.

Ever since he failed to kill Dumbledore he fell from the Dark Lord’s favourite to his minion’s stress ball. 

Roach stood at the side of his bed wringing his hands, his chubby face pinched with anxiety. Draco felt the familiar feeling of dread seep back into his body, Roach only got like this when someone higher up needed Draco. 

“Master must follow now” Roach pulled at Draco’s pyjama bottoms “Quick”  
“Roach, hold it would you? I need to put some clothes on”

“No time, follow” The elf dragged him out of the door with surprising strength.

The creature had taken a shining to Draco as soon as he arrived. He quickly figured out that Draco was the youngest at the manor and tried his best to look after him.

Draco let himself be rushed down the hallway and down into the abandoned servants quarters where Roach had set up his bed. For a house elf Roach had actually always dressed and slept quite nicely. No grubby tea towels or rags for a bed for him, Draco reasoned that Russian elves looked after themselves a little better that British ones. 

“Here, take” Roach silently closed the door behind him and shoved a little piece of gold into Draco’s hands “Brought from old master. Use now, change...” he gestured to Draco’s bruised face “this”

Draco gaped at the chubby elf, in is hand was an extremely intricate and bejewelled time turner. Of course... just because the collection of British time turners had been destroyed doesn’t mean that other countries didn’t have more. This one had obviously been apart of a collection as there was a label hanging off with a tiny number five scrawled across. 

“Roach, I can’t... When they find out they’ll kill you, my disappearance wont be secret for long”

“Then change, you stay happy and I stay happy in Russia” Roach clutched at his legs imploringly as footsteps started down the stairs “Go to where it started, go change”

Draco clutched the creature’s fat arm in silent thanks, he had to decide where would be the most effective place to start and quick. 

He turned the dials and squeezed his eyes shut as the room quickly span around him. Figures and buildings flashed before his eyes as he simultaneously changed the date and also location. His small dinner the night before threatened to come back up.

Then, he came to a standstill. He felt significantly smaller and was faced with a very familiar person. An eleven-year-old Harry Potter, being fitted for his robes for the first time, stared owlishly back at him.

“I’m Draco Malfoy” he stuck his hand out and smiled, hopefully convincingly “I’m so excited to meet another new Hogwarts student!”

Harry look startled at Draco’s hand, like he was holding a small bomb in his fist. Then at last, a huge smile broke out on his face as he took his hand “I’m Harry Potter”


	2. Chapter 2

Harry let got of his hand and looked at his reflection sceptically.

“Not used to robes yet?

Potter blinked back at him and looked back at the mirror again. He touched the sleeves of his school robes softly like he still didn’t think they were his. 

Draco knew that Potter never got new clothes from his muggle family, he remembered seeing him on the first weekend of term dressed in revoltingly large and scruffy clothes. Back then he found it amusing but now, as a sixteen year old, it was just sad. 

“Don’t worry, they’ll look nicer with your house logo and tie”

Harry stared again at Draco. 

Merlin’s beard, had that giant oaf really not told him anything outside the fact he was a wizard? 

How did this timid innocent child become our world’s saviour? In the last three minutes the boy had only said his name and looked like Draco had grown another five heads. 

Draco knew though, he knew that Potter was a cocky bastard really; he was just incredibly good at making people fall for him.

The git.

Draco tried again at starting some form of conversation 

“There’s Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. I for one would love to be in Slytherin, full of successful and kind wizards that one” He half lied

Harry hummed and Draco had to bite his tongue to stop himself yelling at the boy to actually say something

“Didn’t Voldemort come from Slytherin?” he mumbled 

“Well, yes, but his supporters came from all of them” that at least was true.

He remembered the shock at hearing some of the newer Death Eaters talk about their time at Hogwarts and realising that several were from Gryffindor. Bravery doesn’t always mean you’re not stupid enough to join the loosing side.

“Oh” Harry said simply

Draco raged internally. His robes had been finished and packed away for a while now but he was still standing on the tailoring stool. 

There was a sudden tap at the window, Hagrid was peering in at Harry, brandishing a startled looking owl.

Harry’s expression massively brightened at seeing the huge man and he hopped down from the stool, stuffing his new robes unceremoniously into a bag.

“Let’s sit together on the train!” Draco hurriedly yelled at the boy’s retreating back “Wait in front of the first carriage for me”

Harry nodded slowly and gave Draco a fleeting smile before running outside to accept a monstrosity of an ice cream from the giant. 

It was like talking to a bloody wall, Draco thought miserably, as he marched back to the Leaky Cauldron to meet with his mother. 

It seemed that Potter was utterly hopeless at every age, but no matter. He was determined to find the git at the station before he gets a chance to be befuddled by Weasley chatter. 

“Draco, what took you so long?” Narcissa whisked the bags out of his hands and send them back to the manor with her wand “Your father has been expecting us for the past half hour”

She offered Draco her arm to apparate home when Draco caught something in the corner of his eye. Harry was sitting in the corner with Hagrid, listening to him talk animatedly about, Draco guessed, utter rubbish.

He strained on his tiptoes until he came into the other boy’s line of sight and gave a massive cheesy grin, which earned a small laugh from his mother. Draco felt something pleasant squeeze his stomach when Harry offered him a smaller genuine smile back. Perhaps seeing him with his mother made him look a bit less like a overenthusiastic lunatic than before. 

Draco looped his arm with his mother and was swiftly pulled along side her, landing lightly inside the house. He had always loved appearing with her, she had such ease and grace that made the experience a lot less bumpy than with other wizards. He didn’t realise how much he missed it. 

“Who was that you were waving at Draco?” She asked softly, not wanting her husband to overhear just yet 

“Harry Potter” he replied firmly “I thought it would be wise to befriend someone with such high profile”

Narcissa nodded slowly, almost disbelievingly. Draco forgot he was a little dense as a child and had to be steered by his family to offer Potter his friendship. 

Harry.

Potter?

It was getting harder to refer to the boy the way he used to now that everything had been reversed. 

“Do you think that’s wise dear?” she stroked a stray bit of hair back into place

“Of course” with a jolt Draco noticed his father had been lingering in the doorway of the library

“D- darling, you’re home” Narcissa fixed a smile onto her face and kissed her husband on the cheek 

He placed his hand on the small of her back to reassure her that he was not angry. 

“Draco is absolutely right” his face was etched with pride, that he had not seen for a few years “Befriending such a influential wizard would be a good start to our son’s educational and professional future” 

Draco gawped at the man, he had forgotten how hopeful they had all been. That their family name would be slowly, inch by inch, be tugged out of the mud. 

“Your new clothes and wand should be in your school trunk by your bed. Please don’t ruin how the elf packed it, we need to leave here sharp for the train tomorrow” his father said, retreating back into the library

He wondered up the stairs in a daze. He hadn’t seen his family home like this in such a long time; lit up, lived in, happy. 

~*~

 

Draco arrived the following week at the station with his mother, as he always did. His father said his farewells in the morning before he left for work. 

The station was packed with children who were actually excited to go back to school. No one was dreading what mayhem Harry was going to attract to the school next. No one even knew that the kid was joining this year.

Narcissa sighed above him as she placed his luggage onto the train “He’ll be here, don’t worry”

He was pretty damn certain Harry would be here, just like he was sure Crabbe would drop his food on Pansy’s new shoes at the feast. There were certain things about the past he just didn’t have the heart to change. 

The train doors were slamming shut all along the carriages; Draco must have missed him among all these people. He’ll just have to repeat history a little and barge in on his and the Weasley’s compartment. 

Narcissa kissed Draco on the cheek “We’ll send you a going away present soon sweetheart.” the train started moving slowly away from the platform “Can’t wait to hear everything at Christmas!” 

Draco waved half-heartedly at his mother as she got smaller and smaller. He would hopefully do everything before the holidays, no matter how tempting a proper Malfoy Christmas was. 

Marvelling at how short he was as he elbowed his way through the crowded carriages, Draco hurriedly peered into each compartment, avoiding Crabbe and Goyle as he went.

Finally he found the one he was looking for. Harry and the Weasley were talking energetically, which is more than he ever got out of him, he thought bitterly.

The moment the door slid open they both froze, Weasley visibly stiffened as he took in Draco’s betraying Malfoy appearance. Harry, at least, smiled broadly and moved the bags on he seat next to him.

“Thought I’d never find you out there!” Draco patted his arm in greeting, noticing the boy recoil slightly at the sudden touch. Bugger, he had to remember that. 

“Ron, this is-“

“I know who he is,” the other boy said through gritted teeth.

This was going to be a challenge to act through.

“Oh, have you met before?” Harry looked happily between both of them. So naive. 

“No.” 

“In our world certain family traits are very easily recognisable” Draco laughed, hopefully convincingly “For example I know just by the ginger hair and nose that this is Ron Weasley”

Draco leaned forward slightly and offered his hand to the still scowling boy

“I’m Draco Malfoy, not that I need to say by this point” he let his hand float in the air for an embarrassingly long time before retreating it again. 

“I don’t think our families have ever been in the same ‘social circle’, Malfoy” his ears and cheeks had a slow red flush developing across them “Nor would we want to”

“Well I know both our fathers are involved with the ministry together, you can’t say that isn’t somewhat social?” Draco was trying desperately to stop the distressed look on Harry’s face getting worse

“What do they do?” Harry sat up at the mention of the ministry just as Weasley, Ron, opened his mouth to argue 

“Mine donates a lot of money to support the Minister of Magic but he mainly helps in the board of governors at Hogwarts” Draco finished lamely 

“Mine actually has a job” Ron said this like it made him superior, the hypocrite “He’s the head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. He um... fixes muggle things that wizard’s have fiddled with” 

Neither sounded very interesting, he was going to get a bloody tongue from how much he’s had to hold it.

However, Harry was looking riveted by the new information. 

It kept like this for the whole journey, Ron trying constantly to get him to snap and show his true colours. It was only bearable when he saw Harry laugh softly when Draco snapped back at a particularly low blow. 

Which was interesting. He liked them sassy it seemed. 

This verbal rally was only interrupted when Hermione Granger poked her head in. He was pleasantly surprised at how much easier it was to talk to the muggle born girl than before.  
Draco supposed she was the more reasonable one of the three; it was just difficult to ever talk to her when everyone thought he was a racist. 

The sky gradually darkened, as the scenery grew more and more wild. Pretty little town houses were replaced by untidy villages with cosy pubs nestled in the middle. 

The three boys changed into their robes at Draco’s ‘hunch’ that they were almost at the station. He had a feeling he was going to be full of these ‘hunches’ this year. 

A line of first years trailed out of the train to queue by the imposing half giant that was awaiting them. Some nervously chatting to each other but mostly silent as they gaped at Hagrid’s imposing height.

“Draco” a girl hissed in his ear and pinched his arm sharply “Thanks for blowing us off there pal”

Pansy had shoved her way to them in the line and was glaring at the trio, which was a pretty good impersonation of her mother. 

Draco inwardly groaned he had forgotten that his absence wouldn’t go completely unnoticed by everyone. Having known Pansy since they were born she probably assumed they’d be traveling here together.

“Well, are you not going to tell me who you’ve replaced me with?” she continued, not breaking her scowl even as they started to walk to the lake

“This is Harry Potter and Ron Weasley” Draco said offhandedly 

Pansy’s eyebrows rose into her fringe as she searched Harry’s head for the scar. Her mouth flapped open and shut a few times, looking from him and Harry to see if this was a joke. 

“I’m sure your mother taught you that it’s rude to stare” Draco smirked as she flushed

Pansy nodded, apparently deciding that she was apart of this group and squeezed onto the already too small boat to the castle with them. 

Ron, Draco noticed, looked even moodier at the extra pure blood addition to their newly formed clique. 

Shivering, the small pack of students made their way across the lake. At the impressive view of Hogwarts looming into view loud exclamations of delight were heard through the night air.  
He wished that the view had not somewhat soured since fighting his way out of the castle in June. 

Hagrid waved merrily at Harry as McGonagall filtered them into the hall to start the sorting ceremony.

Ron started to turn an unpleasant shade of green as the great hall came into view and hundreds of heads turned to watch them walk in.

“If you’re worrying about the chances of you getting into Gryffindor don’t” Draco hissed into his ear “I have more of a chance getting into Hufflepuff than you do being anything else”

Ron began to glower at him with a lot less feeling after that.

One after another the sorting hat was lifted onto students heads (and over their eyes in most cases), each table gradually getting louder. 

When Harry’s name was called the collective breath of the great hall stopped. Dumbledore sat up a little straighter. Draco saw Pansy pull a bored face at him from the Slytherin table. 

McGonagall lifted the tattered old hat onto Harry’s head and waited. 

Draco frowned as the first minute passed by, then two, then three. The buzz of the great hall picked up again as students stood up to see what was taking so long.

A spike of anxiety shot through Draco’s stomach, he was sure it had been a lot quicker to land the boy in Gryffindor before. 

The rip in the old hat opened, 

“Slytherin!”

The noise level in the hall exploded and Draco burst into laughter.


	3. Chapter 3

The uproar of the announcement died around him, as did everything else. It was if his surroundings were slowly melting away to reveal the old kitchen in Malfoy Manor underneath. 

Draco span around wildly, fist clenched tightly over the slightly warm time turner around his neck. 

The room was exactly as he left it, with a distinct lack of Roach which was suspicious from the get go.

“Roach?” Draco hissed, remembering the footsteps that made him leave so quickly in the first place “Are you still here”

“Master?” said a scratchy voice, rustling from the darkness

The fat old elf hobbled out of his normally well made bed sit, now that he looked, Draco noticed that the room was in a state. 

Roach himself was no better, his squished little nose was crooked and blood caked his rounded face. A makeshift sling was supporting what looked to be a very badly fractured arm.

“What happened Roach” Draco asked incredulously “Merlin, here let me, just hold still”

Draco gently poked the elf’s arm and nose with his wand, snapping the already incorrectly healing bones back into place.

“What happened?” Draco repeated 

“Master did not change” Roach said, more fact than question “Eaters like to hurt Roach and young Master now. That is only change” 

“I did change!” he crouched down “We were friends, Potter and I. We were in the same house and - ” 

Draco paused, frowning at the dirty floor. He had planned so much, to change things that made more of a difference. 

He was going to tell Dumbledore about Quirrell, he was going to tell the man everything before it happened until he felt it was enough.

Gazing at his now much larger hands his frown deepened further. He had heard of wizards going that far back in time, some much further, but never actually swapping bodies.

Roach was looking sadly at him through his hooded eyelids, something about him always seemed to know what he was thinking even before he did himself.

Draco tugged the little gold instrument from his neck and held it out in front of them. 

“This isn’t just a Time Turner is it?” Draco asked

Roach looked away and shifted uneasily on his feet “Master not leave time to explain”

“We have all the time in the world now Roach” 

“Master must understand, Russia dark wizards, experiment” He pointed to the softly glowing rubies and ruins etched into the metal “The Demidov family old, had too much money, had too much time” 

“Okay, so you had crazy dark wizards as masters, not much has changed.” Draco gestured wildly around him “I don’t care what they did in the past, what does this thing really do?”

“Swap minds with past but only two weeks. The turner much too small for longer” Roach looked ashamed “Could not fit bigger when family murdered” 

Draco nodded slowly. So, he only had two weeks each time before he was ousted to whatever future he had created. Apparently what he had done was much too little. 

“Wait, Roach, why do you remember that I used this? Shouldn’t you have forgotten the reality I came from?

Roach lifted up his blood-stained smock slightly and showed an angry looking tattoo on his abdomen, it had the same kind of writing as the Time Turner. 

“Demidov family always travel, elf needs to remember.” Roach smoothed the ruined fabric down again “Family have been doing long long time, learnt not to change important things. Things like burnt food they change” 

Of course the old families outside of the rest of the western world would know better than to use their powerful magic that thoughtlessly. 

He needed to change something a bit bigger than the bloody house Potter was in. 

“Did I even change anything?” Draco asked quietly 

Roach looked sadly at the floor “No”

“How is he? How’s Harry?”

“The same, boy just not stupid anymore” The elf laughed darkly 

Draco pulled his hair, he felt like screaming at the elf for no good reason other than to let his pent up anger out. 

He racked his mind for a better event to change; in his second and third year Harry didn’t need any help. The dead giant snake under the school and the escaped “criminal” was proof enough of that.

Perhaps he should just bite the bullet and stop Voldemort coming back in the first place. Their fourth year in Hogwarts, the Triwizard tournament, that was one of the most poignant moments in his revival. 

“Two weeks right?” Draco put the tampered time turner back around his neck

“Two weeks” Roach agreed

Draco gave it a few twists, lining up the date of the year he was going back to “Hopefully this will be the last time we see each other” he smiled ruefully and the room started spinning

~*~

Draco opened his eyes slowly and found himself staring at the familiar dark surroundings of his dorm room. Judging by the snores of his housemates it looked like it was still early morning.

There were two weeks to go to the last challenge and he was determined to change things this time. 

“Draco?” 

He jolted up and saw Harry smiling softly from the bed next to him, making the other boy laugh 

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost” he chuckled, pulling his shirt off to get changed “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Draco nodded mutely, gawping at Harry’s surprisingly toned figure. He had never seen him in any state of undress and now suddenly he was parading around in just his boxers. 

It was lewd. 

“When you’ve stopped leering would do you want to get breakfast together before class?” 

Draco snapped out of his daze and started pulling on his uniform angrily “As if anyone would leer at you, Potter” 

“Potter?” Harry let out a bark like laugh he’d never heard before “Did you get out of the wrong side of the bed today or what?”

He strutted over to Draco and pulled his tie so it was tight enough to strangle. 

Strutted. 

The same guy he always remembered mooching all over the castle while trying to attract the least amount of attention to him was strutting. 

Slytherin had made him into a dick.

“Okay okay fine” Draco flapped Harry’s hands away from molesting his tie again “I just don’t enjoy seeing a specky git looking at me when I first woke up.” 

Harry laughed again and hit Draco’s back, which almost sent him flying “That’s more like it”

Draco followed him up to the great hall in a stupor. Other students in all three houses greeted them both happily; no one avoided Draco’s eyes or even tried to trip him up for once. 

Even bloody Ernie Macmillan said good morning to them both while walking past the hallway to Hufflepuff’s common room. 

Of course, Draco thought moodily, that with the right environment Harry’s temper and brashness would transform into confidence. He might as well be a different person

Harry caught him staring again while scraping eggs onto their plates “Holy hell Draco, you look like you’re about to slit my throat. What’s up with you?” 

“You look really good Harry” Draco realised what he had said and stuffed a square of toast in his mouth 

Harry blushed slightly and grinned “I wish I could say the same but you currently have butter all over your face”

He took a napkin and brushed some crumby butter from the sides of Draco’s mouth “Better” he said softly

They were interrupted as Ron and Hermione sat down opposite, pointedly looking anywhere other than at them. 

“Morning!” Harry quickly dropped the napkin and poured the two Gryffindor’s tea without asking 

“Morning” Hermione said brightly, elbowing Ron who nodded and mumbled something back “You better watch yourselves, that Skeeter woman would have loved a photo of that” 

Harry sighed and abandoned his eggs. The conversation quickly changed, much to Ron’s enjoyment, to the last task.

The loud ringing that was still in Draco’s ears quickly drowned their chatter out. 

“Come on Draco, we have Moody’s class” Harry dragged him up by elbow and they made their way out of the hall 

“Hold on!” a body slammed in-between and attached itself to his arm “You little shit Draco, you said you’d help me answer the last question for Moody’s homework before class”

Pansy was hanging off of their arms, glaring at Draco 

“Don’t mind him Pans, he’s been a bit weird this morning” Harry draped his arm around the girl’s shoulders and playfully curled a bit of Draco’s hair around his finger 

“Hm, he is looking a little sick actually” she said, wrinkling her nose at him 

“Stop talking about me like I’m an invalid” he flattened the finger curled hair down “I’m fine, I’m just tired” 

“While I find your sleeping patterns fascinating Mr Malfoy, yourself, Potter and Parkinson are holding up the class” Moody limped past them

The man tipped back his flask before writing the class aims on the chalkboard and a wide grin spread across Draco’s face. 

There it is, his ticket to a better future. He just had to somehow sneak into a delusional Death Eater’s bedroom and tamper with the only way the man was hiding his appearance. Simple.

Draco started writing notes down on the defensive spell they were practicing today. It was pointless; he’d never get past the wards Crouch had no doubt put around his quarters. 

What if he didn’t need to go that far? What if there was something he could do during the day that would ensure the disguise to fail? 

Draco accidentally snapped the point of his quill with how hard he was pressing it into the parchment. 

He knew what he had to do.  
~*~

Draco heaved the last book that he managed to find on the library desk and pushed the monstrous pile he had collected to the side.

Apparently books on spy work and reversing the effects of an illegal to use in school potion was nigh impossible to find in the said school’s library. 

He stared mournfully at the restricted section that was currently being guarded by the old bat of a librarian. Ever since he had asked to go in and mumbled something about losing his permission note she had stood like a gargoyle by the locked door.

“Draco, would you stop huffing in your little corner? You’re putting me off of this essay” Pansy winged 

Harry leaned over and grabbed the book he had just put down “‘Seeing the Why in Spy’? You looking to do some detective work Draco?”

“Don’t touch things that aren’t yours” Draco snatched it back “And for your information I’m just doing extra reading for Moody” 

Pansy arched an eyebrow “I thought you weren’t doing any work for that ‘old loon’” she made air quotations with her fingers

“Well, I’ve changed my mind”

“Bullshit” Harry said simply “The most stubborn person I know doesn’t just ‘change their mind’”

“I swear if I see another finger quote I’ll snap them off” Draco sent the other books back into their shelves a little too roughly, which made several people jump

“Then stop giving stupid excuses” Pansy rolled up her homework now that something else had thoroughly distracted her

“If you can’t tell us what you’re plotting, and you’re always plotting something, why the hell are we friends?” Harry crossed his arms and sat down on the other side of him

“You’re going to think I’m losing my mind,” said Draco

“We already do, love,” said Pansy

“Merlin, fine, but if you don’t believe me I won’t try to convince you” he said

Draco explained the gist of his issue. Harry and Pansy’s expressions growing more and more disbelieving as he went on, Pansy had a slight slack jaw looking going on.

The only change was Harry’s eyes flickering to Draco’s neck and down to his chest after he explained the special time turner. He saw something click in Harry’s head.

Harry let out a strangled yelp and jumped out of his seat, sending it crashing to the floor. 

Pansy gave Madam Pince a pained smile and hit Harry over the head for good measure. That seemed to sedate the woman, who shuffled around the corner, staying in hearing range. 

“Show her” Harry whispered “I saw a bit of a necklace when you were changing this morning, it’s the time turner isn’t it?” 

“Why were you watching him-” Pansy was cut off as she gasped at the ornate machine “Oh Draco, that’s beautiful... Wait, so you’re really from the future?” 

“Well it sounds a bit ridiculous when you put it like that” 

Harry kept quiet for once and frowned slightly at Draco then back down at the time turner, he looked a little distressed.

Before any of them could speak a shadow crossed over their secluded table, it was Hermione, looking down at them furiously.

“Oh hi Hermione, fancy seeing you here” Pansy forced a laugh and tried to cover the time turner with her elbow 

“Don’t try to hide it now Parkinson” Pansy looked abashed at the use of her second name “I don’t believe you Draco, you of all people meddling with time like this?” 

“Me of all people?” Draco scoffed “If I remember correctly you used one in your third year to get to class”

“That was with a NORMAL time turner and I didn’t actually change anything!” Hermione bristled “You’re changing the course of history!”

“If you saw what was in all of out futures you’d do the same” Draco hissed back and dragged the girl down to sit at the table before Madam Pince overheard

She shook her head gravely “You have no idea what you’re doing. I’ve read all about these kind of things in the restricted section, you can’t know for sure you’re bettering the future or making things way worse” 

Draco shrugged “I’d rather take the risk than live in hiding for the rest of my life. You wont ever know what that’s like Hermione”

She looked at Harry helplessly and he shrugged moodily.

“Thanks for the support” She said sourly “Draco, I think you’re being incredibly stupid but I’m going to help you. So you don’t do something stupid.”

“Hermione, thank yo-”

“You do realise that after you go back we’ll remember none of this conversation” Hermione sighed at Draco’s expression “A tampered time line can’t remember that it’s been tampered with. I swear sometimes I’m the only one that ever reads”

“So I’ll get my Draco back?” Harry asked quietly 

Draco blinked at his unusual, for this timeline’s Harry anyway, forlorn expression. 

“Your Draco? I’m right here, I haven’t gone anywhere” he said reproachfully

“You’re not the same, not really” Harry messed his in frustration “You’re not exactly the same”

Pansy and Hermione looked awkwardly back and forth between them, eyeing Draco carefully,

“Harry” Draco touched his arm gently making the other boy jump “If you all help me do this everything will go back to normal and nothing bad will happen to anyone, I promise”

Harry stared at Draco for a second then slammed his palms on the table “Then we’re sorting this out tonight”

They were swiftly escorted form the library.


	4. Chapter 4

“This is such a bad idea” Pansy mumbled 

“You don’t have to come, you know” Draco said, holding his wand over her head

“Of course I do” she huffed “Just get it over with”

Draco tapped her head and she shivered while the spell travelled down her body, making her invisible. 

“I don’t think making her of all people invisible was a great idea, Draco” Harry yelped as Pansy pinched him 

“You’ve been able to sneak around the castle since your first year, I think everyone should be given the same right” Pansy said somewhere to Harry’s left

Draco rolled his eyes at the pair, he had envisioned going on his own to examine the restricted section of the library but that clearly wasn’t possible. 

The two of them were like limpets ever since he revealed that he wasn’t who they really thought he was. They hadn’t let a single aspect of his plan go unchecked.

Draco was still refusing to tell them what he knew of the future, much to their annoyance, it would cause too much grief. They argued that they’d forget eventually but Draco knew that that level of anxiety, even for a short amount of time, wouldn’t be worth it.

Harry threw the invisibility cloak over the two of them and with Pansy they left the common room to creep around the dungeons. 

At the library doors they spotted a floating ball of yarn that was twitching as if the person holding it was trembling slightly. 

“Hermione, it’s us” Harry whispered 

She let out a soft gasp and dropped the ball of twine, which she vanished in seconds before it rolled down the stairs and to Mrs. Norris.

“Don’t DO that!” She squeaked and reversed her invisibility spell “Come on and let’s get this over with”

The other three did the same and followed her in. The Library was incredibly dark and they all dimly lit their wants to keep themselves from crashing into chairs or each other.

Hermione unlocked the way to the restricted section with practiced ease; unsurprisingly this was not her first time sneaking into this area. 

They followed her to the back of the library where the most dusty and evil looking books were chained into their shelves. 

Pansy made an unsure sound and gingerly sat down while Hermione set out to search the rows, pulling out a book every so often and adding it to a pile.

As the pile grew to five books high Hermione gave a satisfied huff and joined them at the slightly stained table. 

“Are you expecting us to stay here all night?” Harry looked around them incredulously “It’s the weekend tomorrow. Hogsmeade!”

“You’ve stayed up much longer than this before a Hogsmeade weekend” Hermione snipped “And this is a lot more important”

Harry mumbled something under his breath and heaved the first book off its pile and began to scan the index, making disgusted faces while he read some of the topics.

Draco pulled the next one off, “Pulling Truth”; the front cover had a nasty illustration of a wizard pulling something out of another’s mouth, much like a muggle tooth extraction gone wrong. He really hated these books.

The subjects of each chapter sounded promising at least, “Knowing Your Killer” and “Asking Your Assassin” especially. 

A half hour passed slowly, only the rustling of pages and sounds of disgust after a really gruesome chapter or illustration breaking the silence. Unluckily, Pansy had picked a book that seemed to be mostly about torturing information out of people.

“This is pointless!” Harry cried after an hour of fruitless searching “There’s nothing in here that we would be able to get past Moody, I mean Crouch” 

“He’s right” Draco agreed “ Everything in my book just wants me to sneak up on him and either insert something into him or splash a potion on him”

Pansy stuck her tongue out at the visual image

“Well, I found something a few minutes ago that we can probably use” Hermione said, business like “We’ll have to be so careful though”

“You could have said something earlier!” Pansy threw her arms up and slammed her book shut “Thank Merlin”

“I wanted to make sure that there wasn’t something easier. What we’d have to do could go so wrong so easily” she flicked back a few pages and showed them a very complicated potion “If Crouch has some of this in his food the polyjuice potion will be reversed right away”

“And are we meant to give him a box of chocolates or something?” Draco asked “He doesn’t eat anything that wasn’t prepared by the elves”

“Exactly!” Hermione said happily “What he doesn’t know is that we have contacts in the kitchen. All we have to do is convince Dobby, this is where you’d come in Harry, to slip some of this potion into his breakfast”

“Great!” Pansy clapped her hands together “Can we do it on Monday morning?” 

“Well… no” Hermione looked edgily at them “It would have to brew for three days at least”

“Hermione!” Draco yelled and was hurriedly hushed “I don’t have that long”

The three of them looked puzzled at Draco

“This… thing only lets me stay for two weeks” he gestured at his chest “I can’t leave before or stay after that deadline”

“Three days out of your two weeks is nothing, Draco” Harry said

“What if something goes badly wrong and I need a lot longer to fix it?” Draco asked, slightly hysterically “You said yourself Hermione, it’s a risky potion”

The girl’s face hardened and she looked between them all “Then I better get it absolutely right”

~*~

The next day they all met in an abandoned girl’s bathroom on the first floor. Draco realised with a little pang of dread that it was the same bathroom that Harry had attacked him in.

Harry, Pansy and Hermione however, were treating it all as a bit of a joke. They were actually disappointed to see Myrtle missing from her usual toilet. 

Draco had grown to become very fond of the ghost after having found a therapist in her in his last year at Hogwarts.

Pansy had magically enlarged the cubicle to fit all four of them inside and was now rummaging in her bag of potion ingredients. 

Pansy’s mother was well known to be one the best potion masters of her time but was apparently pretty dim when it came to suspecting her diabolical daughter. Pansy had written home that evening with a list of potion ingredients, which arrived promptly that morning. 

These potion ingredients were extremely hard to come by, even when raiding Snape’s stock he kept in his office, which was quickly shot down by the Slytherin’s. 

They needed the shell of 3 occamy eggs, fifteen griffin claws and a jobberknoll feather, all of which were nearly impossible to find in such a quantity this last minute. 

Hermione lit a flame under the cauldron and cast an extra silencing spell on the whole bathroom “So I think that’s everything, we need to let the water simmer for ten minutes before adding lake and sea water”

She checked the book every other second, even with nothing to add to the potion, they couldn’t afford to make mistake brewing this.

“So what’s our plan after this is done?” Harry asked

“Well, first we need to go to the kitchens and convince Dobby to help us. I was thinking that we could inject all of the food that’s sent up to him with this. It’s meant to be tasteless anyway but I can’t risk him having any suspicions about the look of his food if we soak it.” Hermione looked at Harry

“Draco and I can do that, he knows both of us and he always said he liked having you as a master” Harry grinned at him “We’ll make a S.P.E.W member out of you yet”

Draco’s stomach did a weird little flip at Harry’s smile being directed at him.

“Aren’t the Hogwarts elves bound to protect the staff though” Draco considered “I can’t see Dobby wanting to slip something in one of their breakfasts”

“We just need to show him proof that this potion would be harmless if Moody is really Moody. After all, if he does turn out to be Crouch he’ll still be protecting everyone” Pansy said while fiddling with one of the egg shells

“That’s true. Anyway, I don’t think he’ll need convincing if Harry’s the one to ask” Hermione said “Pansy if you dare take any of that shell I’ll put your head in this cauldron” 

Pansy froze and put a tiny shard she was sneaking into her pocket back into its bag “We don’t need all of it” she said sulkily 

“Yes we do!” Hermione placed the bag of silver eggshells next to her for protection “We need these measurements to be exact and I bet your mother sent the specific weights and not a bit extra”

Pansy mumbled something that sounded very similar to witch 

“Look!” Draco distracted them from their bickering to point at the water, which was emitting a golden hued gass 

Hermione gasped and grabbed the two bottles of water next to her “Okay Pansy, stir the water clock wise, swapping hands every three stirs, like we practiced”

Pansy nodded seriously, she was biting her lip hard in concentration. Draco knew she had been making potions since she was a young child, thanks to her mother, and they were in safe hands.

Bit by bit the sea and lake water was added, turning the bubbling potion a murky green colour. Once this was done Hermione, all the while staring at the book, added a single griffin claw, which made the water go a deep blue.

“Okay” she breathed heavily “We don’t have to touch this until tonight. I’ll sneak away from dinner and stay here until the morning. It only needs to be me here now” 

Pansy snorted loudly “Like I’m going to let you do this on your own. I know how everything should look at each step a lot better than you do”

Hermione looked half hurt and half glad that she wasn’t going to be alone for the whole night. Harry caught Draco’s eye and smirked, sending Draco’s heart into his throat.

~*~

Monday went without much of a bother, apart from pissing Harry off with how advanced his knowledge of every lesson was. He was awarded fifty points in Herbology for easily identifying plants that he had studied in his O.W.L.S and another fifty in Transfiguration for effortlessly vanishing a puppy. 

At lunch Hermione came careering down the tables to tell them that the potion had started smelling strongly of seaweed, which she promised would fade in a few hours. He noticed that both herself and Pansy had numerous cuts on their hands.

“The occamy eggs” she said grimly, noticing them looking at her hands “They’re razor sharp”

Harry nodded distractedly, looking over at the staff room table, frowning slightly as he watched the imposter Moody pick at his food.

“What’s wrong?” Draco asked

“I was just thinking, what if he walks by the toilets one day and his eye sees the cauldron. He’ll no doubt flush it, even if he doesn’t know what it is” Harry said

Hermione smiled at him ruefully “He’ll see an empty cubical. I did a bit of extra research behind that eye of his and I found a spell that repels its power” 

They all looked at her with respect. They really would be quite screwed without her. 

Just before their curfew Harry and Draco dropped in on the girls while they were adding the last few touches, then being left to simmer over night.

Following Harry nearly nocking the whole thing over they were banished from the first floor entirely. 

“Might as well go back” Harry huffed

“I guess were no use here” Draco shrugged and followed him downwards

Draco noticed, as Harry was walking slightly in front of him, that he walked with a little more of a sashay than before. The slight swing of his hips made Draco’s mouth suddenly very dry.

Draco bumped into him abruptly when he stopped outside the hidden wall to the Slytherin common room. Harry stood there for a beat without saying anything, looking Draco up and down.

“Say, Draco, how similar are you to the version of you that I know?” Harry did a once over of Draco again, making the other boy blush

“I think we’d share similar personality traits still” he couldn’t make direct eye contact “I mean, with certain key events not happening, we’d still be pretty much the same. Why?”

“Oh, I was just wondering if alternative reality Draco was as gay as this one” Harry nodded to him, a small smirk playing on his lips

Draco spluttered while Harry looked at him satisfied 

“I’ve never put too much thought into it, I never had time” Draco looked away from Harry’s piercing gaze.

It was true, he knew he never liked girls the same way most of his house did, spending house preening before sharing a class with Ravenclaw girls. 

He never had a “gay panic” or anything, he rather thought he wouldn’t live long enough to actually explore that side of him properly, so what was the point in worrying?

One thing he was sure about is that he never saw the annoying bastard in front of him like that.

“I guess so” Draco tried to shrug casually 

Harry looked at him approvingly “Well, at least you’re a lot more open about it than the Draco I know”

Draco’s mouth dropped open “So you didn’t actually know if I was for sure”

“Of course not!” Harry laughed and ruffled Draco’s neat hair “Just trying to figure out where I stand.”

He scowled and followed Harry into their dorm room. He couldn’t believe someone who was as dim-witted as Harry had tricked him like that. 

He was still watching Harry shrewdly from his bed when he came back form brushing his teeth, which drew another loud laugh from the boy. He heard his other dorm mates grumble at this regular noisy occurrence. 

Harry walked over to Draco’s bed and sat down next to him and smiled faintly, hand twitching on the frayed part of his pyjamas.

Slowly, he leaned forward until his lips were next to Draco’s ear and his hands were either side of his hips.

“Sleep well” He said simply, getting into his bed and drawing the hangings shut.

Fat chance.


End file.
